Of Sheep and Goats

11.26.13

Matthew 25.32 32 Before him will be gathered all the nations, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. (ESV)

Jesus used examples from everyday life to help make His point: we call them parables; Jesus simply used them to help us understand what He was saying. In Matthew 25 Jesus used the parable of sheep and goats to illustrate what things would be like, “When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on his glorious throne.” (V. 31) The Lord will separate all people into two groups like a shepherd would separate goats from sheep.

Goats are interesting creatures: they are intensely curious, will eat just about anything, and will climb up on things like rocks, small buildings, cars, and occasionally the right kind of tree. Goats do not clump in flocks like sheep do but rather they spread out and kinda go it on their own. Goats will charge when threatened; male and female alike grow horns. Goats tend to be separate and, not so much selfish, but certainly independent.

Sheep on the other hand hang together in flocks. Where there are natural predators, sheep clump together which offers protection and some defense. Sheep are docile, easily led, and need direction to pasture and water. The rams grow horns but the ewes never do. Sheep basically do what they are led to do; it’s their nature.

Jesus made the comparison of sheep and goats, not to give us a lesson on animal behavior, but to illustrate human behavior. The sheep are favored while the goats are not. Naturally, sheep are easier to care for than goats. Sheep are more dependent, while goats tend to be more independent. Humans are not separated by breed, but by the heart. The “sheep” Jesus favors are the ones who hang together and look out for one another and do what He tells them to do. The “goats” go it alone, and much like the animal, the goat, tend to be self-determined. Jesus’ listeners all knew the difference between sheep and goats.

When I examine my life; my comings and goings, my doings and sayings, I see more goat-ish behavior than sheep-ish. I tend to be more cynical rather than forgiving and optimistic. I tend to be more analytical and critical than blind to the faults of others. I tend to believe one gets what one deserves (except when the one is me and then I tend to whine that I’m being picked on).

Jesus looks at the heart and looks at the kind of people we are. He looks at how we spend our time and how we treat others. He hears what we say and hears our thoughts. He knows whether or not we’re repositories of His love.

Jesus, if ever I wanted to be sheep-ish – despite all of my goat-ish tendencies – it’s today. If ever I wanted to hear those words, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.’, I want to hear them today. I ask You for a change in my life, and for me to accept that change by faith that You’ve done what You do: make darkness turn into light, make what’s dead come to life, and turn goats into sheep because of Your great love. Help me today, my Lord and my God. Amen.

Dependence for All Things

11.24.13

Matthew 17.26-27 26 And when he said, “From others,” Jesus said to him, “Then the sons are free. 27 However, not to give offense to them, go to the sea and cast a hook and take the first fish that comes up, and when you open its mouth you will find a shekel. Take that and give it to them for me and for yourself.” (ESV)

This is a curious story in Matthew’s account of Jesus’ life: the two-drachma tax, or the Temple Tax. Funny, Jesus didn’t have a penny. It seems from Luke’s account there were several women who supported Jesus ministry out of their means (see Luke 8.3). But Jesus didn’t have a dime – or a drachma, or a shekel, or any other means of paying this annual tax assessed against the Jewish population for the care and upkeep of the Temple. But, you know what, Father-God doesn’t have limits and Jesus knew that. I need to know that too.

Peter was concerned because I think Peter wondered about the tax. (I find it also funny that the Tax-man, Matthew, was the only one of the four gospel authors to bring up this story…) So furrowed brow and all, Peter comes to Jesus to ask Him about the tax and before Peter even opens his mouth Jesus asks him, “So, whadaya think Pete, from whom do kings of the earth take taxes; their sons or from others?” And Peter says, “Others.”

But Jesus wouldn’t let Peter’s next question even get to the surface: “Then the sons are free. However, not to give offense to them, go to the sea and cast a hook and take the first fish that comes up, and when you open its mouth you will find a shekel. Take that and give it to them for me and for yourself.” Jesus was teaching Peter about two things: First, pick the fights you can win; and second, don’t go out of your way to offend.

The other thing Jesus was teaching Peter here in this narrative is: Peter, don’t forget to depend on God for all things. That’s what I need to learn.

I have a big mission coming up in June and I need the funds to get there. I need shots; I need a passport; I need money to provide for my daily needs. I need the money to cover two weeks of work from which I will be unpaid and absent while on my mission. Paul, don’t forget to depend on God for all things.

I needed this reminder today that God provides all for His children and I am counting on Him for the complete amount to go on my trip. Jesus is my Example: “Peter, go down to the lake and cast a hook. Take the first fish that comes up and when you go to get the hook out of the critter’s mouth you’ll find enough for both of us. Peter, I don’t have a job, but I do have My Father and He knows what we need – depend on Him like I do.”

Father, thank You! Thank You for the money for this mission trip, and for my absence from work, and for all the other things I need each and every day. I trust in You. Amen.

Taking Care of Today Today

11.20.13

Matthew 6.34 34 “Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble." - Jesus (ESV)

If you hang around me for very long (some just can’t stomach it, I know) you’ll find I take a shine to what is affectionately known as the Serenity Prayer. If you’re not familiar with the prayer you might recognize the first stanza:

God grant me the serenity

To accept the things I cannot change;

Courage to change the things I can;

And wisdom to know the difference.

For years I knew the first part of the prayer and then during a time of great personal difficulty, I became familiar with the second stanza:

Living one day at a time;

Enjoying one moment at a time;

Accepting hardships as the pathway to peace;

Taking, as He did, this sinful world

as it is, not as I would have it;

Trusting that He will make all things right

if I surrender to His Will;

That I may be reasonably happy in this life

and supremely happy with Him

Forever in the next.

Amen.

I especially like the part that says: living one day at a time; enjoying one moment at a time. And so, when I read Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount, as it is affectionately known, I hear the Lord saying: “Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on.” (V. 6.25) And I read this and I think about how often I spend energy (and time) doing exactly what He counsels me not to do: be anxious. Sigh. I need to learn to live differently: one day at a time; each moment as it comes.

We’re taught as a society to have plans and to prosper and to think about tomorrow and to plant and to build and to accumulate and, and, and... We’re not taught to live one day at a time and enjoy the moments. We’re too busy thinking about the next move. And Jesus said, “Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.” In other words, Paul, you got enough to think about for today, let alone worrying about tomorrow (which by the way, never comes: it’s always only ever right now.)

It’s hard to unlearn all I’ve been taught about life and culture, and, and, and... But there is a longing in me to learn to let go, and let God. (Cliché, I know) I think Jesus teaches in me in the Sermon on the Mount, to concentrate on today and let God take care of tomorrow whenever it decides to show up. And the prayer powerfully echoes: living one day at a time, enjoying one moment at a time.

And so, today, I echo in the prayer what Jesus teaches me on the mount: God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change; courage to change the things I can; and wisdom to know the difference. Living only in this day because it is all I really have, and trusting You moment by moment ,finding Your presence in those moments. Thank You Lord! Amen.

What It’s all About

**To my readers: I hesitated posting this for two reasons: 1. I confess I continually live misunderstanding the love of Christ; and 2. our lives would be so much different if we did understand what love does for us in our relationship with Jesus. Jesus is wooing our hearts by showing us all He's done for us already and we don't have to add to it at all - we just need to accept it. I struggle with the acceptance part. I hope this helps you and I hope your lives are overcome by the love and providence of Christ.

11.16.13

2 Corinthians 5.10 10 For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive what is due for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil. (ESV)

How I live will be judged. How I live will be examined. How I live will be rewarded. We must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive what is due for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil. How I live will be, in time, given what is due, whether good or evil. Consider me stopped in my tracks.

Jesus doesn’t expect me to perform – if He expected that it would be all about the Law, or a law, or a set of rules, or a list of actions. But with Jesus, it is all about relationship and love for one another: Him loving me, and me loving Him by doing what He directs me to do. My love is proved for Him by my doing what He says. No obligation. No coercion. Just humility that what He says is best and I don’t have to perform in doing it; I just do it.

In appearing before Jesus there shouldn’t be a dread – unless, of course, I have something to dread. But if I have something to dread then maybe I’m not living in love with Jesus. Maybe I’m trying to live a double-life. Maybe I’m not as truly in love with Him, as He is with me. I should be looking forward to my appearance before Him. If I’m not, either I don’t have an understanding of what that appearing is all about or I’m attempting to harbor something inside believing He can’t see it and I can continue to do whatever I do. It sounds like insanity to me.

I know as I sit here today and think about it, I’m to expect to receive what is due me for whatever I’ve done in the body, whether good or evil. Paul tells me that in 2 Corinthians 5. And Paul, bless his heart, isn’t talking about law. He would’ve rather been dragged down a dirt road naked before he went back into the bondage of legalism. Paul reminds us all that our lives will one day be examined to see what they were really made of, and what they really accomplished in and through Jesus Christ.

So, that brings me to today. That brings me to a place where I have to come running to Jesus for all the crap I’ve pulled this week and say to Him:

Lord, forgive me and help me. Break those bonds in me; or help me to realize fully they’ve already been broken and I’m just fooling myself by insisting they’re still real. May I see and live, by faith, the freedom that is mine in You, and may I live the free life I have in You. Not free to serve myself and live according to my agenda, but free in You to live as You wisely and lovingly direct my every move. Help me to live in real faith. Help me to live in real love. And help me to give up the horrid things I hold so precious and dear that hold me back from all of You. Amen.

Wrestling with Leviathan

11.15.13

Job 41.8 8 Lay your hands on him; remember the battle—you will not do it again! – God (ESV)

In life there are myriad opportunities to screw up. It’s just true that we learn through trial and error – these two are our best teachers.

In Job 41 the Lord speaks to Job about Leviathan. Although most scholars are not sure exactly what Leviathan is, it’s pretty clear from the narrative that he is big, and mean, and has absolutely no regard for humans. And so God explains to Job, “grab ahold of him big boy and you’ll find out quickly what a real battle is all about – you’ll be smarter next time!”

In other words: Job there are things in this life that are beyond you and the only way you’ll figure it out is if you try to tackle them – you’ll quickly find out just how small and limited you are. And then for emphasis God adds: …like your trying to tackle Me. Trying to tackle God is a fool’s errand. Trying to figure Him out and put Him in our little box is just plain stupid.

But folks (like you and me and everyone else) try to do it all the time. The only way to figure out just how frightening Leviathan is is when his gaping maw closes in on you, and your blood-curdling screams for mercy fall on deaf ears. I don’t think God is that merciless but I do think He allows us to get into situations where the only thing that will save us – THE ONLY THING – is our blood-curdling screams for mercy.

That is the lesson of trial and error. We might think we can handle God until we find ourselves in a place where only His mercy and our screams for it will help. Job was dressed down by God for trying to claim he had an understanding of God. What Job lacked was respect for God. Job had lowered God to his level and then tried (albeit intellectually) to tame the Wild Beast. (Yes, I just called my God and Father the Wild Beast; it’s what I deserve for trying to bring Him down to my level and cram Him into my cardboard box to contain Him. Foolish man!)

As I am wont to say, there are four kinds of people on this earth: those who know and know it; those who don’t know and know it; those who know and don’t know it; and those who don’t know and don’t know it. I find myself in category four often times and it takes my stupidly grabbing ahold of Leviathan’s tail to remind me I don’t know and didn’t know it.

God wants you and me to know that we know. Our hearts are so perverted and twisted and broken that at times the only way to know just how bad we are is to slam into a brick wall at high speed. God doesn’t desire we slam into the wall but He also doesn’t want us to go through life not knowing we don’t know. The Answer to every human problem and issue, and the grand-daddy of them all: our fallenness, is God. Period. And He’s pretty good at providing Leviathans to help us know that we know – after all, He made Leviathan.

Papa, Wild Beast that You are, help Your servant and child to know it and know that I know it. I cannot make it through these days without You and help me – whatever it takes to get it! Thank You for the Leviathan’s in my life but thank You more for mercy and in Your mercy may I find humility, and grace, and salvation from the stupid things I do – Amen.

Decently and in Order

11.13.13

1 Corinthians 14.39-40 39 So, my brothers, earnestly desire to prophesy, and do not forbid speaking in tongues. 40 But all things should be done decently and in order. (ESV)

I am a Pentecostal. I’m probably more a reluctant Pentecostal than anything else. I struggle with verse 39 (above) but am all over verse 40. I’ve been down the conservative evangelical paths (theologically speaking) and have moved into the camp of the less conservative and more liberal in expression (that’s how I’d classify Pentecostals).

I’ve been told that speaking in tongues is an evidence of the baptism of the Holy Spirit. Not sure I’m gonna go there. I’ve been told that speaking in tongues enhances evangelism and the sharing of the Gospel. Not sure I’m gonna go there either. (I think what enhances evangelism is spending time with Jesus and allowing His life to shine through mine. I think what enhances people’s lives is reading God’s word, not to teach it, but to live it.)

I do know this: all things should be done (in the church and in life) with decency and in order. I’m not splitting hairs over decently and decency. I’m not trying to control the Holy Spirit either. Paul emphasized prophesy but made room for tongues. But I think he was maybe saying: always do what you do for the right reason at the right time.

1 Corinthians is a difficult letter because Paul deals with difficult issues. And there seems to me to be a cloud of mystery hanging over much of what he deals with in chapters 12 and 14. But just when I think he’s gonna drive the bus off the cliff he says: So, my brothers, earnestly desire to prophesy, and do not forbid speaking in tongues. But all things should be done decently and in order. And here (or there) I remain a reluctant, but committed, Pentecostal – tongues and all.

Our faith can be distinctive in style – that’s probably what separates us the most because it really isn’t our beliefs. No, not everyone is going to buy into my perspective on tongues but I probably won’t buy into their solemn, somber, long-faced expression of faith either. I’m not criticizing their expression, I’m just not comfortable in a church gathering where that is the norm. (Nor am I going to be comfortable where the announcements are shared in tongues.) Our unique expressions of our common faith are what make us who we are. Past that, we’re pretty much all the same.

Now then, I’m not going to go to the head-honchos of my denomination and tell them what I think and where I think they’re wrong (according to me). I am going to celebrate the life of Jesus in me with my fellow parishioners and love them decently and in order. I think that’s about the best I can do. I’m not going to read my Bible so I can pound them over the head with what I read, but that I may live out the truth in front of them that I may in whatever way enhance their lives for Jesus. It’s about the most and the least I can do decently and in order.

Father, it isn’t my perspective that’s important it’s enhancing people’s lives for the Kingdom that matters. My local church our the larger denomination may have their distinctives and quirks, but they are no reason for leading a one man parade down a dead-end street. Help me today to enhance people’s lives decently and in order that what I do and say may adorn the truth that you are God and You love us all dearly. Amen.

Outward or Perceptible

11.12.13

1 Corinthians 12.7 7 To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good. (ESV)

I’m not sure I know what your spiritual gift is; that really doesn’t matter. What’s important is that you and I conduct ourselves with the understanding that to each (one of us) is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good. When we gather for church, as we connect in small group; as we serve our brothers and sisters, it is to be with the understanding that in each of us is a manifestation (an outward or perceptible indication) of the presence of the Holy Spirit for the common good. That is serious business.

Life together in the Church is to be about the Lord Jesus as He shares His life with us, through each other. We don’t go to church to get educated, although that is a part of it. We don’t gather as a church to get fixed, although that is a part of it. We get together to use the gifts and calling we each have to build the church up together for its common good. My presence in Church isn’t about me, it’s about you, and building up the church together with you. It’s serious business.

Life together as a Church is life together as God’s holy people and our love for each other and our use of our God-given gifts together so that everyone benefits.

When you go to church, do you feel that way?

Church is serious business. Not frowny or stern, but serious. It’s serious in a very important way: the common good of all who come. We don’t go to movies for the common good. We don’t go to football games for the common good. But often there is more camaraderie at movies and sporting events than church because we think church is all about focusing on our weaknesses rather than our strengths. Church isn’t about entertainment (at least it isn’t supposed to be) it’s about the common good – yours, mine, and everyone else’s. It’s serious business.

If church is anything other than the common good with all of us exercising our God-given gifts then we’ve missed the point of why we come together in the first place. Church is about a much bigger point than us-against-them; than me and my petty little issues. Church is about my fellowship with the Spirit of God and how that affects you when we come together – and how I affected by you when we gather as God’s children. That’s why they call it affection.

I feel like I’ve just been doused with a bucket of ice-cold water. I am fully awake and fully convicted that I’ve allowed my attitude toward church to be something less serious than the common good. It is time to take church seriously and to allow the manifestation of the Holy Spirit to shine through me as I gather with my church-family for the common good.

Papa, You love Your kids and have called us all to see each other in the light of true care, loving concern, and visible affection. May the gifts You’ve given me shine through and reveal an outward or perceptible indication of Your presence in me for the common good of those I recognize and care for as my family of believers – amen.